4 great algebra lesson plans for KS3 maths from Colin Foster
Give your students a piece of the Pythagoras with these excellent lesson plans for lower-secondary students…
- by Teachwire
1 | The power of puzzles
Instead of treating algebra as a foreboding, abstract topic to be feared, says Colin Foster students ought to see it as a useful tool that can actually make their learning of maths a whole lot easier.
Here’s a lesson plan that can help bring them round.
2 | A day at the C-side
‘A Day at the C-Side’ gets Pythagoras’ theorem stuck in learners’ minds by allowing them to discover it themselves.
In this lesson, pupils draw tilted squares and find their areas, then use these values to draw conclusions about the lengths of oblique lines on a square grid – leading to a statement and proof of Pythagoras’ theorem…
3 | The simple life
In this lesson, assistant maths professor Dr Colin Foster shows how you can start with an answer – ‘5x + 8y’ in this instance – and work back from there, getting your students to find as many solutions as they can, while picking up key knowledge of negative coefficients along the way.
4 | Change the subject
‘Change the Subject’ develops pupils’ algebra skills so that they can rearrange equations confidently, which is an important skill both in mathematics and other subjects like science and design and technology.
